Eu Law Citizenship Essay

On the other hand, the understanding of the Constitution in the European States since the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 does not imply any specific guarantee of the fundamental rights associated with citizenship of the Union. Article 6 TEU states that the Union recognises the rights enshrined in the ECHR and will accede to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, without, however, referring to the legal status of citizenship of the Union. Individual citizens` rights and citizenship are enshrined in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (EUCFR), the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Article 9 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). These are essential factors for the formation of a European identity. In the event of a serious breach of the fundamental values of the Union, a Member State may be sanctioned. In accordance with Article 9 TEU and Art. 20 TFEU is any person who is a national of a Member State. Nationality shall be defined in accordance with the national legislation of that State. Citizenship of the Union complements, but does not replace, national citizenship.

Union citizenship includes a number of rights and obligations arising from citizenship of the Union of a Member State. In Case C-135/08 Janko Rottmann v Freistaat Bayern, Advocate General Poiares Maduro explained the difference before the CJEU (point 23 of the Opinion): despite the corresponding wording of Article 20(2) TFEU, citizenship of the Union does not yet entail obligations for Union citizens. This is an essential difference between citizenship of the Union and citizenship of the Union of a Member State. Like national citizenship, citizenship of the Union refers to a relationship between the citizen and the European Union, defined by rights, duties and political participation. The aim is to bridge the gap between the growing impact of EU action on EU citizens and the fact that the exercise of (fundamental) rights, the fulfilment of duties and participation in democratic processes are almost exclusively national affairs. In accordance with Article 15(3) TFEU, any natural or legal person of a Member State has the right of access to documents of the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the Union. Article 16 TFEU enshrines the right to the protection of personal data (4.2.8). In art. Article 2(2) TEU states that `the values of the Union shall be based on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities`. With the exception of the right to vote, the content of European citizenship obtained so far consists to a large extent of a systematisation of existing rights (in particular as regards freedom of movement, the right of residence and the right of petition), which are now enshrined in primary law on the basis of a political idea. It does not presuppose the existence of a people, but is based on the existence of a European political area from which rights and duties flow.

In so far as it does not imply the existence of a European people, citizenship of the Union is conceptually the product of a decoupling of nationality. As one author has noted, the radically innovative nature of the concept of European citizenship lies in the fact that “the Union belongs to the citizens and is composed of citizens who, by definition, do not have the same nationality”. On the contrary, by making the nationality of a Member State a condition of membership as citizens of the Union, the Member States wanted to show that this new form of citizenship does not call into question our first membership of our national political bodies. Thus, that relationship to the nationality of each Member State constitutes recognition of the fact that there may (in fact) be a citizenship of the Union which is not determined by nationality. Parliament has always wanted to give the institution of European citizenship all its rights. It advocates the establishment of citizenship on the basis of an autonomous union, so that EU citizens have an independent status. It has also advocated from the outset for the inclusion of fundamental and human rights in primary law and has called for EU citizens to have the right to appeal to the CJEU if these rights are violated by the EU institutions or by a Member State (resolution of 21 November 1991). For a long time, the legal basis for citizens` rights at EU level was essentially the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Since the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon and the EUCR, the legal basis has been extended to include genuine European citizenship. Any citizen of an EU Member State is considered an EU citizen. Citizenship of the Union does not replace national citizenship: it complements it. Citizenship gives them the right: “These are two concepts that are both inextricably linked and independent.

Citizenship of the Union presupposes the nationality of a Member State, but it is also a legal and political concept independent of nationality. The nationality of a Member State not only makes it possible to enjoy the rights conferred by Community law; it also makes us European citizens. Citizenship of the Union is more than a set of rights which, in themselves, could also be granted to those who do not possess them. It presupposes the existence of a political relationship between European citizens, although it is not a relationship of belonging to a people. […] It is based on their mutual commitment to open their respective political bodies to other European citizens and to build a new form of civic and political belonging at European level. This is the miracle of European citizenship: it strengthens the bonds between us and our states (to the extent that we are European citizens, precisely because we are citizens of our states) and at the same time emancipates us from them (to the extent that we are now citizens outside our states). Access to citizenship of the Union is based on the nationality of a Member State, governed by national law, but, like any form of citizenship of the Union, it forms the basis for a new political area creating rights and obligations under Community law which do not depend on the State. […] For that reason, while it is true that the nationality of a Member State is a condition for access to citizenship of the Union, it is equally true that all the rights and obligations attached to citizenship of the Union cannot be unjustifiably restricted by citizenship. Citizenship of the Union was defined for the first time in Articles 9 to 12 of the Treaty on European Union.

Articles 18 to 25 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) establish the rights deriving from citizenship of the Union. On the controversial issue of “golden visas”, in which some member states sell their national citizenship and thus EU citizenship in order to attract foreign investors, Parliament adopted a resolution adopted on 16 December. January 2014 reaffirmed that the values and achievements of EU citizenship should not be put on a “price tag”. B. Content of citizenship of the Union (Article 20 TFEU) EU law creates a number of individual rights which are directly enforceable in court, both horizontally (between individuals) and vertically (between individuals and the State). Inspired by the freedom of movement provided for in the Treaties, the introduction of European citizenship with well-defined rights and obligations was already envisaged in the 1960s. Following preparatory work begun in the mid-1970s, the TEU, adopted in Maastricht in 1992, set itself the objective of `strengthening the protection of the rights and interests of nationals of its Member States by introducing citizenship of the Union`. A new part of the EC Treaty (ex Articles 17 to 22) has been devoted to this citizenship of the Union. As regards the triggering of the sanction mechanism provided for in Article 7 TEU against a Member State, Parliament has both a right of initiative (Article 7(1)) which allows it to request the application of the first of these mechanisms, and a right of democratic control, since it must accept its implementation (Article 7, paragraph (2). Article 7 TEU reproduces a provision of the former Treaty of Nice (1.1.4) which provides both for a preventive mechanism in the event of a `clear risk of serious breach` by a Member State of the values referred to in Article 2 TEU and a sanction mechanism in the event of a `serious and persistent breach` of those values by a Member State.

First, the Commission invites the European Council to conclude unanimously that such a risk exists (Article 7(2)). This would then trigger a procedure that could lead to the loss of a Member State`s voting rights in the Council. This mechanism was first activated against Poland in 2017 due to the reform of its Supreme Court. By directly electing the European Parliament, EU citizens exercise one of their essential rights in the European Union: the right to democratic participation in the European political decision-making process (Article 39 of the TECFR). As regards the procedures for electing its Members, Parliament has always called for the introduction of a uniform electoral system in all Member States. Article 223 TFEU requires the Parliament to draw up a proposal to that effect (`to adopt the provisions necessary for the election of its members by direct universal suffrage in accordance with a uniform procedure in all Member States or in accordance with principles common in all Member States`).